


Inheritors of Atlas Burden

by CarenzaPhoeinx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hogwarts, House Elves, I'm not killing off Sirius, M/M, Magic, No Spoilers, Other characters may not be safe though, Video Game: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Will partly follow cannon, a change of events, and on from there, slightly AU, so many characters - Freeform, well I'll try, your safe in that regard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-07-19 19:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19979473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarenzaPhoeinx/pseuds/CarenzaPhoeinx
Summary: Perseus Crouch and Nova Black are two young British born magicals with dark pasts and bright futures. They were raised together by their mothers' after their fathers were assumed dead. Their story is one of challenges and triumphs and overcoming the legacies of the past that can weight on a person like a burden. A slowly unfolding tragedy returns them to England just in time for the Quidditch world cup and from there the story comes together and starts to fold into Harry's.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Unfortunately, the only part of this story I own is my own characters. JK Rowling owns the rights to everything. Please remember to subscribe or review.

When does a story start?  
Does it start with the beginning of an adventure or before it? Do you start with an ending and then go back to the beginning?  
I suppose it depends on the one who is telling the story and what lesson they wish to convey to the listener.  
It is a moment when a person's world changes or something happens that seems to be a perfect beginning. Whether that being a normal day turned extraordinary with a wizard whisking off a helpless hobbit on a quest to slay a dragon or a farmer boy discovering a message from a princess, asking for help.  
Or it's an ordinary moment in the life of an apparently ordinary character that soon develops into something quite extraordinary.

My story?  
My story could have started in several places, it's intertwined and part of so many others that I don't know quite where to start. I could start with the generation before my own whose actions and legacy have defined me and my best friend for as long as we can remember.  
Or I could start with my paternal uncle who I never knew growing up but whose story would change a generation.  
But while they have influenced me certainly, this is the story of my best friend and I. The story of our generation and while the past does play a role, this is not a history lesson.  
So I will start with something seemingly insignificant. A decision to return to the country of mine and Perseus birth, a place we hadn't stepped foot apart from for short visits for years.

My name is Nova Rose Black, daughter of Rengulas Black and Lucille McClaren. I was raised by my mother and her best friend Grace Maguire with Grace's own son, Perseus Argo Crouch, son of Barty Crouch Jr.  
We were raised by extraordinarily strong and brilliant women with a legacy from both our families that sometimes can seem more a burden than a path to a chose. If there is one thing that we both know is that not all legacies are good, in fact some of them are more burdens that can weigh a person down until they drown. Our stories unfold as the world we were raised in begins to darken as the shadows start to regain their strength.


	2. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arrival and a most unexpected meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything but my own character creations

**Nova**

Arriving in England during the last days of summer was not as fraught as I imagined it would be considering our previous visits to my grandparents. The worst of it was the traffic when I arrived in London. My mother Lucille had gone to the Oracle's office in London to handle some urgent business with the exiting Editor. As I exited the taxi with the driver helping me pull my suitcase out of the boot, I looked at the grey brick townhouses in front of me wondering what I would find inside. Hopefully, not my fugitive uncle, I pulled out the key from my pocket and paying the driver with a touch of a card, watched him drive off with a thank you and a farewell.

Breathing in, I walked up to the front door of 12 Grimmauld Place, the Black family's London townhouse, technically it was my ancestral home through my father. It had been mine since my grandmother's death, Mother had purposefully never introduced me to her, though she had gone to the funeral despite the fact I always got the impression that she had loathed my grandmother and perhaps blamed her in part for my father's death.

That day she had left me with Perseus and Grace, we had gone to visit his grandparents' care-home where the residents spoiled the two of us under the supervision of the med-witches and a smiling Grace. With Mother having decided that we would return to England for mine and Perseus OWL year and Grace having agreed, the house needed to be cleaned out so we could live in it. A job that Perseus and I would be handling ourselves mostly throughout the summer.

I opened the front door to see the inside, it was dark and gloomy, the very air thick with the smell of rotting fabric, dust and dirt — a house in disrepair. I was reminded of the muggle horror movies that Perseus loved to watch that had petrified and fascinated me in equal amounts. Another step forward, the door slammed behind me. Then someone screamed. I let go of my suitcase to pull my wand out as I inched forwards to find myself facing a life-sized portrait of an older woman. She had been painted in a black cap of mourning with bulged eyes as she screamed incoherently, waking up all the other paintings, so they started yelling. It was, I thought exhausted, far too early for this. I pointed my wand at the portrait before saying "silenco." The woman continued to scream but realising she wasn't making any sound, seemed to bash her hands against the painting. Ignoring the portrait's erratic movements, I looked at the inscription on the bottom, using a sleeve to wipe off the dust and grime. "Walburga Black, wife of Orion and mother of Rengulas? - oh, you're my grandmother?" The portrait stopped still and stared at me with wide eyes. I just said calmly "I'm Nova, Rengulas' and Lucille McClaren's daughter." Then the woman started silently screaming again, apparently, my mother's disdain was shared. Sighing, I walked down the corridor towards what I hoped was the kitchen, leaving my suitcase near the front door, lighting my wand with a delicate Lumos so to illuminate the hallway.

Seeing the state of the kitchen when I pushed open the door, I sighed then said tiredly, " _this_ is going to take forever. Why in magick's name did mother want to return to England so suddenly?" 

The next hour involved exploring and mapping the whole house and the rooms within it. I found my father's room with the Slytherin banner on the wall alongside articles about the actions of Death Eaters. Sighing at the sudden reminder of my father's actions, his _choices_ that now, as a 15 year old I was deeply uncomfortable with for the legacy that hung over me because of it. The House of Black and its association with dark magic and muggle hating was cemented in Wizarding society in England, there was a very good reason that my mother had decided to raise me out of the country. I had grown up with Grace telling me about my father, Rengulas Black, the good son who did as he was expected and had never come back to my mother when he had left one day, trying to make amends.  I also stood in the doorway of my Uncle's room, Gryffindor banner proudly displayed with several photos that looked to come from a muggle playboy magazine, I couldn't help but smile a little imagining how Walburga had reacted to _them_ , I closed the door of that room and left it be. Going up to the top floor, I found the master bedroom suite and two spare rooms with a bathroom. The house was evidently magically expanded to ensure there was space for a large extended family. 

By the time I was walking back down the stairs towards the kitchen, I knew my previous statement was right, I was going to be very busy this summer and with a flick of my wand, banished the carpet on the hallway that was mostly stretched threads and gaping holes. It revealed grimy tiles that were in places slightly clean enough to reveal a pattern, black and white. 

I was soon sitting in the kitchen, having pulled out my blue journal from my bag and a pen to write down an initial list of things that I would have to do to make the house somewhat livable by the end of the summer or at least, for Perseus and Grace to move in. The screaming started again and I groaned, at least I knew what I was going to be making a priority _._ By the end of my brainstorming session, it was a page long and that was just the initial requirements, goodness knows what else would show up in the next few weeks that would require additional work. 

  1. _Remove or permanently silence Walburga's portrait_
  2. _Find somewhere to put up the magical tent for now_
  3. _Find out who the other portraits are_
  4. _Get rid of the house elf heads_
  5. _Pull up all mouldy carpets and clean the floor underneath_
  6. _Have a usable kitchen_
  7. _Replace the mattresses, curtains and sheets_
  8. _Clean the bathrooms_
  9. _Have a usable set of bedrooms_
  10. _Make sure fugitive Uncle can't access the house_



"Little mistress is here, the heiress to the great house of Black." In a moment of shock, I shrieked and fell off my chair, landing on the floor I looked up to see my pen hovering in midair and an ancient house elf wearing only a ragged loincloth. Mentally I added an additional amendment to the list.

11\. _Find out what the house elf is willing and able to do._

A few moments later, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor to talk to Kreature who didn't seem to quite know how to handle his Mistress ( _and oh god I hated that I owned a sentient being) _who treated him to a frank discussion over the house and his capability to clean. He seemed to be rather pleased when I told him that I would be moving in permanently with my mother and two others, close family friends who were near kin. The kitchen was soon dust-free with a click of Kreature's hand as the ancient elf promised he would clean the house properly. I interjected, somewhat concerned that I may work the poor thing to death accidentally and gave firm orders he was to rest and not overwork himself but that I was going to be helping clean, a project to test my magic. That reasoning seemed to satisfy Kreature without insulting him, he nodded and said, "Master Rengulas cleaned up after himself always, little mistress." At that oddly personal note of my father's habits, I froze. My mother didn't discuss my father, period, the only times she did was to tell me his name, that his family were frankly awful people, he had been a death eater who had second thoughts and died for them. At least I had it somewhat better than Perseus who never talked about his father or his actions. Ever. 

The pair of us tackled the kitchen together, Kreature's magic and mine along with a number of cleaning solutions I pulled out of my suitcase (Grace sent me off from France with a basket of the stuff)  the stove was soon clean with the pans and pots returned to their old glory of shining steel and copper. The place was completely utterly changed, it looked like a different house, still a little too dark for my tastes but the walls could easily be repainted and the furniture was still in decent shape.

The only other orders I gave to Kreature was, "please remove all the mouldy carpets and curtains if you can first with the bed sheets and pillows. They’re easily replaced. Kreature, remember to rest if you are feeling tired or tell me if it's too much. I'm going to make us some tea and warm up the food.” Kreature nodded and vanished with a pop upstairs to do as he was ordered. Sighing, I wondered how I would tell Perseus and Grace, both of whom were very fond of house elves but believed devoutly in their rights, that I apparently had owned one for the last decade which I had inadvertently abandoned.  


By the time my mother arrived from her business at the Oracle's office, her kneazle Nox at her feet, dogging her steps as my own kitten, the tiny shockingly white Polaris was being carried by the scruff of her neck and mewing rather upset until she was placed on my lap. Mother had apparently already eaten dinner with her new staff and was muttering about Rita Skeeter, a tabloid sensationalist writer who had little care for the damage she did to the targets of her writing. Apparently, they had met again in Diagon Alley, Rita having not realised that my mother was the new temporary head of the Oracle's office in London. In recent years its devout insistence on printing nothing but the truth and publishing stories on _real_ issues meant that it had a growing following among people in magical Britain, there was a gossip and society section but it was truly near the back, the stories were about child soldiers in Africa, the discoveries of Grace Maguire in north Africa and China, the abuse of pro-pureblood laws and the treatment of the poor and disenfranchised were first alongside new bands and artist showcases, the various opening of different businesses and the adverts they put in. Needless to say, the incumbent ministry government currently hated it, Mother being sent to become the new editor was probably because she was once a highly respected auror and after that mess in China last summer, I'm pretty certain that Perseus and I were barred from ever returning if Newt Scamander was in the country which reminded me, I needed to write to him about Polaris as the half-Kneazle headbutted my chin.

I was greeted with a warm if an exhausted kiss on the cheek, a thank you for the tea and light sandwiches and laughter when I informed her that the bedrooms were uninhabitable and we'd need to find somewhere to put the tent for the night. I had also used my staplegun to staple the curtain on Walburga's portrait together as a temporary measure to stop the screaming then I had ordered Kreature not to take any serious orders from the portrait.

Letting me slouch in my chair, my mother eyed the tattoos on my arm with a slightly annoyed look, Perseus and I had gone to a magical tattoo parlour to get them during the mess in China, technically it was legal, in China and the tattoo artist didn't much care provided we paid. Mine was brightly coloured flowers that were twined around my lower wrist, they changed colour and vibrancy with my mood, closing up to buds or fully bloomed depending on the situation. Perseus had gotten his whole arm done with a galactic-star theme, a joke in part due to my family tradition of being named after Stars despite the fact that I absolutely loathed anything but the basics of astronomy.  
She sighed then turned her attention to the smaller second reception which contained a giant tapestry of the Black family tree, it was surprisingly well maintained as I looked around, curious about the more infamous side of my family. I watched my mother wave her wand and move furniture against the wall, vanish the curtains and from her own bag, summoned the enchanted tent we used and put it up in the room. A temporary measure until we could move into the bedrooms.

Entering the familiar tent, I went over to my bed, separated as it was from my mother's on the other side of the area by a fabric partition, put my suitcase at the side of my bed and fell straight to sleep after getting changed. Polaris sleeping quite content at the bottom of the bed curled up by my feet. 


	3. Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> picking up supplies in Diagon Alley and a spot of cleaning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Harry Potter

**Nova**

Nova woke up on hearing a familiar voice calling that breakfast was ready and it was time to get up, as she shifted Polaris mewed in indignation at being moved. She stumbled out of her room to find Lucille sitting in the kitchen-diner area with Kreature, a bowl of cereal and milk already prepared. Thanking Lucille and Kreature, Nova dug in, too hungry to do anything else and near inhaled the orange juice with it..

"I have to go back to the Office today but I looked through the house last night - you were right with your preliminary list but I've added a few things that we'll need to make the bedrooms liveable before Grace and Perseus arrive. Goodness knows Grace will never let us live it down if the place isn't somewhat clean."

Knowing all too well of how Grace preferred a house or residence to be clean, I winced, Perseus and I had rarely gotten into trouble as children with our escapades. Well minus that incident in China last winter but that was mostly an accident and not actually our fault, the only times that Grace would get annoyed would be if we didn't clean up after ourselves or we got consumed in our computer games. Elder Scrolls Skyrim had been a firm favourite of myself as were the Dragon Age series, I loved the ability to personalise the characters and their personalities so it didn't seem bland.

"So Diagon Alley today to pick up what I need, Mum can I borrow your order book?"

Lucille looked at her blankly before sighing and handing over an envelope saying seriously "this is yours, your father's family have a vault in Gringotts, go there first and make the arrangements to get your own Order book. I expect you will be careful with this responsibility."

Nodding, Nova took the envelope to open it, finding inside was a tarnished gold key.

Nova came out of her room in a pair of black jeans and a sleeveless turtleneck black top with a black velvet jacket which had gold embroidery on the cuffs and on the borders. Inspecting herself briefly in the mirror, she smiled as she pulled her hair into a messy bun and inspected her red lipstick and the state of her moisturiser, she internally thanked wizarding society for having a far more effective skin products than muggle culture, even if they were incredibly difficult to find since they were usually small stores. She bought hers from a witch who lived in Oxford, the young woman made everything from natural ingredients grown in her greenhouse. Madeline Kessel and Nova had become frequent penpals since Nova had written to her at first asking for her products, willing to pay for them on getting recommended them. Grace adored them as well and if there was anyone who personified elegance it was Grace. Perseus came second, probably his mother's influence on his wardrobe if anything.

Arriving at the Leaky Cauldron, Nova was a step behind her mother, the bartender Tom stared at her a few seconds as she realised a little belatedly that perhaps a hood would have been best, she was said to greatly resemble her father's family. Lucille raised a challenging eyebrow saying firmly, "Nova, this is Tom the owner of the bar. Tom this is my daughter Nova."

Smiling politely, Nova held out her hand which Tom took reflexively, he looked a little surprised at himself as the three had a brief conversation about Lucille's work with the Oracle and the fact Nova had been raised abroad. The room had hushed partially to listen in and Nova internally wondered exactly what her father's family had done in part to be so damned infamous even as she was tempted to steal a timeturner and scream at her close minded ancestors. If only for the House Elf heads, there was only so much gothic macabre decor one could tolerate and that did not include decapitated house elf heads.

On entering Diagon Alley, the bricks parting to reveal the entrance way, Lucille and Nova split up as Nova stared for a few seconds awestruck at the colours and magical architecture. The place was rather chaotic as she looked around but stepped forwards, following her mother's previous directions to Gringotts, trying not to knock into someone. Turning her focus to her book, Nova pulled out the list of things she'd need, the apocrothey was a must as was a visit to a carpenters or reupholsters, buying new fabric was also on the list. Seeing a large bookstore, Nova determined she'd end the day there and have an ice cream.

Gringotts was intimidating, reading the text inscribed on the wall, Nova hummed and asked the armed Goblins nearby if it was a challenge, warning or a threat. They stared at her for a few seconds before seeing that she did expect an answer as one answered begrudgingly "a warning to all, a threat to would be thieves." She nodded in understanding then walked inside to find a tellers space open, she placed her key on the desk saying politely "I'm here to see my vault for the first time and arrange for an order book." The Goblin looked at her closely then the key saying slowly "this looks to be in order Miss Black. Please follow me."

Following the Goblin without a further word, Nova sat down in the cart and then when it lurched forwards, she held on tightly.

Eventually recovering from leaving her stomach at the lobby, Nova looked around to see the number of vaults in the Bank buried deep under London. This was wholly fascinating and not alike to anything she had ever seen before as they descended deeper into the bank. A roar had Nova sharply turn to see white scales and then feel hot fire, a dragon, it was blind she realised and heavily chained, her expression briefly turned distraught that such a powerful beast was chained and broken at the hands of others to be exploited. All she did was looked at the Goblin asking surprised "I thought they were only permitted to live in Reserves?"

The Goblin shot her a look saying smugly "the beast has been at Gringotts protecting the oldest vaults longer than those laws have existed Miss Black."

The Black Vault was full of gold and various treasures, she stared for a few seconds before entering hesitantly to look around. She withdrew a small amount of money for change then found a part of the vault containing books which she had to pry herself from. She'd come back and see the titles at another time as she turned to the Goblin and asked to return back to the lobby, she was informed before she could ask that the order book would just require her signature and key.

In the end she left Gringotts with a full purse and an order book, opening my side bag Nova pulled out her journal and opened up the amended list of things that she needed to buy. Seeing the length of the list, Nova sighed knowing that at the end of the day, Nova knew she would be incredibly glad that the bag was enchanted to be extendable and weightless.

The apocrothey was filled with various ingredients, it smelled odd, like a mixture of herbs and sap almost, a little too off for Nova’s taste, seeing he wasn’t busy Nova walked to the man standing at the desk and asked for help. The greying man stared at her a second then took the offered list, chuckling as he heard she was clearing through an abandoned house hence the need for a large array of items. He ended up resupplying Nova near entirely of the ingredients she needed and put them in a shrunken wooden box with the seal of his shop on the top. When she wrote out the money order, he paused on seeing the seal of the House of Black pressed into the leather cover as she ripped out a page. She signed her name elegantly and handed it to him ensuring it was the correct amount, he stared a few seconds before saying slightly surprised if politely “I wasn’t aware there were any Blacks left.”

Nova answered dryly “just me.” The man had the grace to flush but didn’t say a word further as he accepted the order, wished her well and watched her leave. Nova walked through the streets to find the next store, the equipment shop which she bought a dozen small tools she need then smiled as she walked into Gladrags to find it was filled with various racks of clothes and accessories but also, to her delight, a large store of various beautiful fabrics. She browsed the collection of fabrics mostly, selecting and paying for what was needed for the curtains, chairs and pillows. Dark blue, green and purple velvets with mustard yellow-gold as well as, reds, pinks and whites for her mother’s and Grace’s rooms before they were all placed into her bag on being paid for.

Florish and Botts was a haven for Nova who soon was exploring the shelves, looking for the handful that were on her list to buy but also a few others. The shopkeeper stared at the small stack of books that Nova placed on his desk with some amusement before looking at the top book, maintaining a magical property then Nova with a raised eyebrow. He accepted the order form and looked at Nova closer for a few seconds before asking curious, “aren’t you supposed to be at Hogwarts?”

Smiling politely, Nova answered “homeschooled”, he nodded in understanding and the books were soon tucked into her bag as she left the store and grabbed ice cream from a side street then walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom stared a little as Nova walked in and then after a cheerful farewell, walked out of the pub and into the alleyway, holding her wand, she focused and apparated to Grimmauld Place. Specifically an alleyway nearby without a camera from where she walked into the house. Kreature met her at the door and soon they emptied the bag onto the kitchen table, placing the fabrics in the tent for now.

Looking at her to do list Nova spoke firmly “we’ll finish the hallway today and two of the bedrooms for mother and I.” Kreature nodded and soon enough Nova had pulled out a paper wrapped package from the kitchenette of the tent, Crystal soap a mixture Grace had come up with when they were children, it cleaned nearly all messes up and worked on sensitive artefacts too. Grace had patented the design and licensed others to sell it. She’d given them a large block of the high quality soap before they had come to England, suspecting quite rightly that Nova would need it.

“Kreature, use this to wash anything. It works better than spells. I’ll do mother’s room first.”

The two split off, Kreature finishing the hallway and Nova going upstairs to the top floor and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Kreature had removed all the rotten fabric and carpets, leaving wooden flooring. Noting mentally that she had to buy some rugs, Nova raised her wand and soon was using the cleaning spells from the book that her mother had lent her. Cleaning and restoring a whole house was definitely a punishment when it was infested with creatures and fungi, probably for China. Sidestepping a dresser covered in green fungus, Nova used magic to clean everything else. It slowed down the process with ease, Nova’s own skill with magic made it much easier as she smiled and soon enough the bedroom was liveable. Some of the objects in the room that, after a detection spell Nova had invented for Grace, were revealed to be charmed or cursed, were placed in the woven basket that Nova had placed on the floor when she walked in.

Kreature arrived when she had stripped back and removed the various wall hangings carefully to reveal the mostly intact Victorian wallpaper underneath. A few more gentler cleaning spells and a scrubbing with the Crystal soap done by them both, the room was perfectly clean. Kreature looked rather pleased with himself as Nova looked herself over to see the dirt that had stained her shirt and jeans, sighed then turned to Kreature asking “change of plan, you do the nearest bathroom. I’ll handle the next bedroom but we’re eating lunch first.”

Lunch ended up being some freshly made bread and soup in the kitchen. Kreature and Nova spoke, partially about her father, a topic that Lucille had rarely broached with her daughter. Rengulas Black had been a ghost that lingered throughout her childhood, Lucille only said that Rengulas had never been pleased or proud of many of his deeds and that he died in an attempt to repent from them. Kreature had fleshed out the ghost of her father, it was freely apparent that Kreature adored Rengulas even now, he did admit that Nova had a striking resemblance to Sirius and Bellatrix with her features and her curled hair.

Signing that she even looked like her more infamous relatives, Nova finished her food and went to the room that she had decided was her own the moment she first explored the house. Soon enough she had a mental list of tasks and started her work.

The door opened and closed when Lucille returned back from the Oracle to be greeted by Kreature as she hung her coat on a coat hanger then asked where Nova was. Kreature answered calmly “Miss Nova is currently having a bath Miss Lucy. The Mistresses rooms have been cleaned and your things been moved in from the tent. Miss Nova wishes to do the other bedrooms tomorrow.”

Lucille smiled saying amused “she always was so quick to finish a task when she started it. Perseus will be helping out when him and Grace arrive, it’s their punishment for getting involved in an international incident.”


	4. Letters and other things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly a filler chapter with some interaction between the characters currently in the house and a Prophet article which causes Nova some annoyance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t known Harry Potter

_**The Return of the Blacks!** _

_By Rita Skeeter_

_Readers will know of the old Pureblood family of which highly dangerous escaped convict Sirius Black claims membership. The Noble and Ancient house of Black boast being amongst one of the oldest families in Wizarding England, having come to the country with the Roman conquest and married into local magical families. In recent centuries they have become notorious traditionalists and supporters of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named with many of their number in the high security ward of Azcaban prison. Amongst these inmates is the infamous Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange born Black, who was imprisoned for life after being captured torturing beloved Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity._

_Most assumed that the family name was in line to die out with Sirius Black who survived his younger brother Rengulas Black with the fortune going to a distant cousin. It turns out that there is another with the name still walking free amongst us as the apparent Black heiress, shopkeepers in Diagon Alley were surprised when a young woman used the Black Order Book to place various purchases and mentioned she had newly arrived in England after travelling abroad. Nova Rose Black is the daughter of acclaimed war hero and beloved international journalist Lucille McClaren who among her exploits boasts being among the few to have survived a duel with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and helped save many lives during the infamous raid on the Hogwarts Express as a trainee auror. Her father is Rengulas Black who was among the many missing, presumed dead, during the war with rumours painting him having been killed for trying to escape his family’s grip._

_This reporter tried to find if the Ministry suspected Sirius Black of being involved with his brother’s disappearance but no comment was given by the Department of Law Enforcement. The return of the Black family to these shores, no matter her illustrious parentage, at this current time is quite an interesting event. We at the Prophet wish her all the best in her return to England._

Nova looked at the short article, more a gossip piece fit for the pages of a muggle tabloid paper. At least she admitted there were not any photos but the mentions of her father and the actions of her cousins had her tightening her grip on the paper in the morning at breakfast. Her mother having vanished for the weekend on private business and research that Nova wasn’t supposed to know about. The only reason that Nova had a copy of the Prophet despite her mother working for the Oracle was that it was a highly popular paper and she was curious. She was rather disappointed in it actually, she expected better journalism and for Skeeter to realise she had been in England before on visits and had several friends in the country.

In the three weeks between Perseus and Grace planned arrival in England and Nova moving into Grimmauld Place, Lucille continued to work as the Chief Editor of the Oracle leaving the cleaning to Nova and Kreature. So far they had locked off several of the worst rooms and continued their efforts on the downstairs reception and music rooms and the four bedrooms with two bathrooms. Scrubbing away decades old grime and peeling back rotting fabric, while avoiding venomous bite-happy doxies, Nova uncovered wooden floors and elegant tiles that required a mop and a new coat of wax. There was also the careful restoration of wallpaper in the various rooms and various wall hanging, including the Black family tapestry that frankly needed expert attention.

Where wallpaper was cleaned and in some cases replaced with various patterns influenced by Victorian and Edwardian fashions to keep in the property themes, Nova had little issue in being a little too happy with the paintbrush giving the hallway a makeover with white paint and the removal of the house elf heads into the attic (Kreature begged her not to get rid of them and she’d decided to slowly introduced him to the idea). The attic had been remarkably clean and well kept and for now was a storage area with the basement of the House contained the kitchen, a large pantry and wine collection with the doors being iron bars that reminded Nova of dungeons. The wine collection, that Nova had frankly placed on the bottom of his list of things to do. Grace knew more about wine than she did anyhow, best to get her to look at it. Nova had also convinced Kreature to move into a moderately larger space in an unused side pantry on the ground floor with a comfortable bed fit to his size and various old Black family heirlooms in his new ‘nest’ to keep him comfortable. He may be a House Elf but Nova was determined to state she treated him as a sentient being deserving of respect and kindness as equal to humans.

The tent had been put down and the trunks and suitcases that Lucille and Nova had brought with them had been entirely unpacked to fill the kitchen pantry and cupboards alongside their bedroom closets and drawers. Kreature had been incredibly gleeful over the various new cutlery and crockery, some of which was inherited through the McClaren family and others bought during their travels. Unlike Nova who had an apparently extensive full sets of silverware and china alongside the House and all inside it, Perseus had nothing from the Crouch’s truly but a handful of second hand memories and stories. Grace, unlike Lucille, had little issue in telling Perseus and Nova about Barty Crouch Junior and what he had done. Mentioning Perseus paternal Grandfather was rarely done, mostly as his absolute refusal to be involved with his only other living relative had been cruel on his part, Perseus hadn’t met the man since the disastrous Christmas dinner when they were 11 that was never spoken of.

As she relaxed, having done the majority of the hard work in the bedrooms and kitchen, Nova took a brief break and decided to focus on getting the cushions and curtains finished. Her sowing and fabric skills were decent enough that she could create curtains and cushions with the correct equipment and a set of instruction. Soon the rooms all had the matching curtains and pillows of deep velvet of varying colours that blocked out the light and offered decoration. The remainder for the other rooms that she had done were tucked into an expanded box since Nova frankly wasn’t going to do anything more than tackle the doxy infestations in the music room and leave Grace to handle the rattling desk. The dark artefacts she had emptied from the various rooms into the wicker basket had been moved to a cabinet of curiosities in the front reception, carefully spelled to prevent anyone from getting at them or the curses from harming the curious. Nova frankly had no idea what many of them were but between Grace’s work as an archaeologist and her mother’s expertise in dark magic with Perseus love of runes and her own appetite of obscure magic, they would be able to identify and handle much of the cabinet. If not, Nova knew that Bill Weasley, a friend of hers and Perseus who had been a previous student of Grace’s, was a talented curse breaker and would be able to handle the rest. Hopefully it wouldn’t be the advise ‘feed it to a dragon’ because reading Tolkien’s works had taught her that was not a good idea, she was rather hopeful that her ancestors didn’t have the One Ring or its equivalent among the hoard of cursed objects.

During her explorations of the various rooms, Nova had found and moved a beautiful wooden writing desk into her bedroom as an indulgence due to her own copious letter writing habits. She filled its shelves with her old letters sorted by correspondence into various files, bought from muggle stationary stores alongside her elegant writing set, a much loved gift from Grace when her writing was deemed of ‘sufficient standard’. Lucille preferred and mostly used her typewriter for correspondence and official work unlike Perseus, Grace and Lucille who all used and owned calligraphy sets handmade by a crafter from Paris. Nova and Perseus had both been given their own sets when they turned 10 and Grace had sat them down to begin learning in earnest how to have legible and elegant script, a skill that Grace saw as both vital and one that her own arenas had taught her.

One evening, sitting at the desk in her newly cleaned out bedroom, the writing desk set comfortably in a corner but with ample natural light from the wide open curtains, Nova opened her charmed book containing her letters from Perseus that included her own to his. He never quite appreciated her love of letter writing and genuine affection for keeping correspondences, accusing her jokingly of being a bit of a hoarder and quite the eccentric. Lucille’s dry statement at the time that there were worse eccentrics to possess reminded a then newly aware Nova painfully of some of her relatives actions. Now sitting in the house of her famil, Nova was acutely aware of what eccentric meant to a Black, the house elf heads though she would admit, were a little too much and bordered into crazy territory. Perseus was currently waiting for a reply from his letter detailing the pair’s estimated arrival in England and their plans to go straight to the Quidditch World Cup where Grace would meet some friends, Perseus would get the Knight Bus back to Diagon Alley. Nova wrote of her own escapades in the house, including attaching a copy of the Prophet article and her thoughts on it but also her mother’s reaction. Lucille McClaren had not been happy. At all.

Other letters that she wrote that evening included a lengthly letter to Madeline in Oxford to order more makeup for herself, she was running out of her favoured moisturiser but also to enquire about her girlfriend and how she was currently. She also asked if well connected Madeline and her partner Cathy if they knew anyone capable of restoring a slightly singed-in-places ancient tapestry, Nova wanted the whole wall hanging repaired with the burned out members removed.

The rest of her letter written were to acquaintances and friends in England, magicals all, who she’d come into contact with due to her activism and campaigning about the rights of magical creatures and ‘beasts’ alongside her research (a particularly furious letter to the Prophet about current Ministry policy on Werewolves and Centaurs had led to her introduction to Newt Scamander and the trip to China).


	5. The Quiditch World Cup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As an early birthday present, Grace goes with Perseus to the Quiditch World Cup where they meet familiar faces and reunite with old friends before the match and then afterwards, things get.... interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter or Hogwarts Mystery for all I have stolen the characters and some of the plot for this story.

**Perseus**

Arriving through portkey from France, Perseus landed on his feet through practiced experience and helped one of the others on the same Portkey as them as she stumbled. A sluggish ‘merci’ was all he got as Perseus smiled in response and waved it off as his mother called his name and he went to follow her. She handled speaking to the ticket seller for the campsite, a minor ministry official who had replaced the muggle who usually did this for the duration of the World Cup.

Without saying a word, Perseus took the shoulder bag from his mother started to rummage through it to find his favourite coat, dragon leather and velvet, the former having the pattern of constellations pressed into it on the cuffs and collar, the dark blue velvet more black in the evening light.

Despite him technically being grounded, he had been allowed a reprieve for the World Cup, so technically he could go where he wanted for the weekend. His mother at least acknowledged that while he had not intended to participate in an international incident on his last and currently only visit to China, he had done so alongside Nova. Perseus suspected his mother was more enraged about the fact he bated a highly dangerous creature on the orders of Newt Scamander so the man could capture it before the lethiold killed anyone. Also while his mother had already planned on coming to the match for his birthday, she and Lucille had manage to wrangle them some Top Box seats, Perseus suspected it was more for him than anything, Lucille was fond of Quiditch and had taught Perseus to play but Nova had little love of it or flying on brooms in general. His mother had little affection for the sport either. Nova having learned to fly without brooms or magic carpets during her time in India, Perseus thought amused, had ruined any appreciation of Quiditch that Lucille had hoped her daughter would have. 

“Perseus, we need to get to our seats promptly. Did you find- good.” The two promptly left the tent which was locked with a spell by Grace and Perseus added a protection spell to make sure no drunken fans burnt it down.

**Harry**

“Bill?” Bill froze and then turned at hearing a gentle voice as a blonde woman walked forwards. Harry's first thought was that she was beautiful and very elegant in dark blue which sharply contrasted her white-blonde hair, pulled into a perfect bun at the bottom of her neck. With her was a teenager, about a year or two older than Harry, with her grey eyes and cheekbones but a head of dark brown hair, they were very obviously related. Bill smiled saying surprised, “Ms Grace, Perseus, I didn’t expect to see you in England.”

The woman smiled answering “well with the children taking their OWLs this year, Lucy and I thought it best. It’s good to see you again Bill.” Raising an eyebrow, Bill blushed a bit before saying warmly “Ms Grace, these are my siblings: Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny. These are Ron’s friends Harry and Hermione. This is Grace Maguire and her son Perseus. The latter and his friend Nova, I swore never to introduce to the twins.”

Perseus shrugged nonchalantly, in the faint light it was still apparent that he had inherited his mother’s good looks as Harry remembered the name Nova from the article in the Prophet that a surprised Hermione had shown him and Ron. Nova Black, Sirius’ niece and the daughter of a celebrated auror. Hermione had been disgusted at the article and so had Mrs Weasley to Harry’s surprise, the woman grumbling that no child should be so maligned because of what their family had done, no matter how awful. The revelation of what had happened to Neville’s parents was awful for Harry and the others who knew the quiet Gryffindor.

Perseus smirk was rather impish in the right light as he explained, “Nova is very pretty with a taste formayhem when it suits her.”

The twins visibly perked up and the others smiled, seeing the obvious interest there as Percy paled, probably imagining with no small amount of concern what the chaos the Twins would concoct with a third, possibly fourth, party involved in their antics. Ms Grace smiled at her son’s explanation saying almost thoughtfully “she gets it from her uncle, Rengulas was always more sober. Sirius was the life of a party when we were at Hogwarts. It’s lovely to meet you all at last, you especially Harry - oh dear, Lily always despaired you’d inherit James need for glasses. I remember Sirius and Remus dragging Lucille to join them after the bachelor party, he lost them and we needed a hasty replacement at the optician at Diagon Alley.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh, those oddly personal amendments about his parents were more than he’d ever gotten out of the others who spoke about them. He asked if she had any stories, she hummed but promised she’d dig some of her own out of her old journals but Lucy, Nova’s mother, had been in Gryffindor with his parents and shared a dorm with his mother for seven years. Harry lit up before asking curious if Sirius Black knew he had a niece, Grace paused before answering confused “I actually don’t know the answer to that, if he has access to the Prophet he definitely knows now. He knew all of you, he babysat you, Nova, Perseus and Neville during a meeting once. I think I have a copy somewhere.”

Harry’s eyebrows shot up at that, he wasn’t surprised that as his godfather Sirius had watched over him as an infant but he had no idea that Neville and others were among those he had cared for. Let alone that he and Neville had apparently known each other as young children. Fred and George verbally pounced on the possibly embarrassing baby photos as Harry pushed them off, blushing all the while as Perseus commented amused “I remember hearing about that, Nova got her hands on a wand once and gave Sirius antlers. Your father found it hilarious for some reason.” Harry burst out laughing as did Hermione and Ron, all three knowing why James Potter had found that event the height of amusement.

Everyone else looked at them if they were mad, Hermione, regaining her composure first, smiled promising she’d explain to them another time as they walked towards the stairs leading to the Top Box. The story behind that, they had heard from Professor Lupin. A name that had Grace visibly perk up, she had been friends with Remus as a Slytherin a year below him and a close friends of Lucile, the studious one of the group that consisted of James and his friends. He'd been a fellow prefect as well. She was rather pleased to hear he was partially well and Harry wouldn’t be surprised if Professor Lupin got a letter from an old friend sometime soon.

It turned out that the Maguires were also sitting in the Top Box, Grace apparently was a highly respected archaeologist and historian, who had spent the last 13 years travelling the world. She’d been part of the discovery of the ancient ruins of the Aztec magical temple complexes, once lost and still uninhabitable due to the dangerous magic still lingering in the stones. She had also recently been in China exploring the tombs of the Emperors who had their court sorcerers and wizards place powerful and vicious curses on their final resting places. Perseus winced and his sleeve moved, Harry catching a glimpse of a tattoo as the dark haired teen winked at him and he couldn’t help but think that the twins were going to like Perseus.

While the group walked up to their seats, Bill and Grace were fielding various questions from Hermione when it came out that she had been the one to train Bill initially in the archeological aspect of his job when she’d been on contract to Gringotts, it was how and why he had been introduced to Perseus and Grace who he had kept in touch with. Grace gave Hermione a list of books and also offered to write to her, Perseus putting in his own additions and told her to write to Nova who in his own words ‘loved a smart writer’ as he was already speaking quietly to the twins at the back, Harry got the idea they were plotting mischief from Percy’s sharp glances their way. Hearing Grace talk was a lot different from Binns sleep inducing rambles. A fact, when pointed out, had her laugh, she smiled saying she'd graduated Hogwarts as well, she was well aware of how awful Binn's lessons were.

On arrival in the top box, there was some initial fanfare over Harry’s presence to his slight embarrassment though the tension reduced when Perseus revealed he spoke Bulgarian to charm the visiting foreign minister who grinned as the two conversed fluently. Fudge visibly looked a little more relaxed that he had someone who could speak Bulgarian present to distract the man or translate for him. The Malfoy’s presence nearly caused an issue between Arthur and Lucius but Narissca stepped forwards to greet Grace saying warmly “it’s been far too long since I last saw you Grace, your letters have been far too rare recently, you simply must come to tea so we can catch up. Congratulations again for your work in Peru, I hear you turned the theorists on their heads discovering the lost temples.” Grace smiled answering “I would be delighted at the invitation. Oh that reminds me, this is my son Perseus. I gather that you have heard of Rengulas and Lucille’s daughter Nova from that poor excuse of an article, she is indeed in England for the year for her exams.”

Narissca smiled warmly at Perseus saying he inherited his father’s colouring if his mother’s good looks and she would like to hear of her cousin. Lucius shook Perseus hand saying politely “I believe your grandfather should be attending.”

All Perseus answered to that was a dry statement “it’s a good think Nova isn’t here, she’d hex him.”

Harry was treated to Narissca looking rather interested as she and Grace sat together to continue their discussion, apparently Narissca was somehow related to Nova and was most curious about her young previously unknown cousin. Fudge looked a little surprised as he apparently realised or remembered that Narissca was somehow related to Sirius Black since Nova was the man’s niece. Perseus grabbing the unenviable seat between George and Draco, the latter of whom was quite interested in speaking to Perseus, asking about his travels and what he had been studying. Perseus would be taking his exams at the Ministry as other homeschooled children did, his exams however were earlier in the year since he was also doing a mixture of NEWTs and OWLs, just as Nova was. A fact that had Hermione ask what that meant, he smiled explaining calmly "I’m doing exams on topics not covered in Hogwarts such as advanced runes and warding with some languages."

With the Maguires acting as a partial barrier between the Weasleys and Malfoys, the match went well, Harry cheering as he watched Krum catch the snitch and the twins cheerfully take their money from a laughing Perseus who had betted that Bulgaria would win.

After the game, Perseus bid goodbye to the Malfoys as Grace went to go reunite with some old friends from her Hogwarts days, Narissca having been invited to come along as well but declined as she had a previously standing engagement apparently. She’d been delighted on hearing that Remus had taught defence at Hogwarts, apparently the two of them had fallen out of touch over the years and she looked to mentally resolve to find Remus and drag him for tea one evening.

When Lucius had mentioned his affliction, Hermione had a thunderous expression on her face and Harry wasn’t that pleased either. Grace had looked at Lucuius with a raised eyebrow before saying dryly “I figured that out in my 3rd year, Lucy did as well. It was dreadfully easy. Never had a single issue when we were at Hogwarts, well minus the time that Sirius idiotically tried to feed S-a slytherin to him fully transformed. James saved the boy's life and didn’t speak to Sirius for a month, never did Remus actually. He was furious. Lucy hexed him to turn sporadically into a penguin of all things. Though why she chose a penguin was completely beyond me.”

They all stared at her, Grace didn’t respond but to kiss Perseus cheek goodbye and to tell him to be careful then smiling at Narissca she promised to write to her to arrange a time they were both free before apparating away with a sharp crack. Lucius sighed saying “she always was incredibly perceptive.”

Mr Weasley agreed to walk Perseus to his tent and let him stay the evening with them. In the tent itself, Ron demanded to know why Perseus was so friendly with the Slytherins, Perseus stared at him for a few long seconds as Arthur stood up but Perseus answered bluntly “I’ve never stepped foot in Hogwarts also both of my parents were in Slytherin, Nova’s father was as well. There is nothing wrong with being friendly with Slytherins, to say that is close minded and rather petty.”

When Ron was about to argue, Arthur snapped that Perseus was their guest and that Arthur had known many good people some of whom were Slytherins and awful people who were Gryffindors. The clear expectation was that Ron would be polite as he sat down and sulked, the twins lured Perseus away to talk more mischief and ask about Nova and Hermione surprisingly went over to join them, asking about runes, a topic that it turned out that Perseus had an incredible talent for if Hermione’s wide eyes were any indication to Harry.

When the screams and shouts started everyone stood up when they realised that it wasn’t just a bit of hooliganism or rowdy fans. Charlie came back in, having been out with a few friends, he came back with a woman with dark hair who was a colleague of Bill’s and had a scowl on her face as the adults spoke seriously out of hearing range of the teenagers in the tent to their exasperation. Arthur’s gaze rested on them for a second before he ordered the twins to get Ginny, Ron, Perseus, Hermione and Harry into the woods and to hide. They would find them. Him and the others would be going to aid the Ministry. The woman, Merula Snyde grimly informed Charlie that ‘Tonks and co’ were currently on their way to help the Ministry, to which Charlie replied with a smirk “its the cursed vaults all over again.”

Perseus looked up and meeting Arthur’s eye solemnly promised to do as he was told, the teenager pulled out his wand saying faux cheerfully “homeschooled means no trace. We’ll stay together.” He then rummaged in his pockets which must have been magically expanded slightly as he tossed a ballcap at Harry to his confusion saying seriously “keep your head down, if it’s Voldemort’s followers having a reunion then you really do not want to be found.”

Hermione shoved it on Harry’s head, ensuring it covered his scar but paused a second at the logo on it, rather confused as to why a wizard would have a muggle ballcap. “Nova’s idea of a joke. I wanted to turn into charazar when I was a kid.” Hermione smirked at the answer to her silent question as Harry’s lips twitched, none of the others got the reference but they were too worried to have the time to ask about it.

They all pulled out their wands which was when Harry realised that his was missing. Hearing that Bill and Merula both swore before the latter dashed out with Charlie and Arthur firmly told them to be careful and to stay out of sight before they’d rushed off in different directions.

By the time they all found each other again it had been hours and the chaos had come to an abrupt end with an unknown individual creating the Dark Mark. Perseus was also currently standing between Harry, Hermione, Ron and a number of adult wizards. In particular he was having an icy cold argument with the one in charge, Crouch Sr apparently, over his treatment of his house elf. When Crouch demanded to know his name, Perseus’s response was a scathing “well that shows your priorities have never wavered, ambition and Ministry then family a distant third, Grandfather.” You could have heard a cricket croaking at that particular revelation, Harry stuck his head up as he and the others stared. Perseus had been charming, gregarious and intelligent since they had first met him but most of all loyal and creative, very different to his stern overzealous grandfather who turned on his distraught elf for doing nothing more than tarnishing his name.

Ignoring everyone, Perseus knelt to Winky and calmly asked her questions about how she got Harry’s wand and why she was here. She babbled an answer and it was freely apparent that she didn’t know, she’d been truthful, she’d picked it up when whomever had cast the Dark Mark into the sky had discarded the stolen wand but the house elf herself had not cast a single spell. Regardless, Winky was discarded by Crouch Sr and freed. In contrast, Perseus gently took her hand and told her that his friend Nova was cleaning a house and would desperately welcome the help but he’d personally ask her to go to Hogwarts first, they took in House elves like her if she wished to stay there and he had no doubt Headmaster Dumbledore would like to know what had happened here urgently. The tiny distraught house elf nodded with wide eyes and Harry marvelled at the difference between Perseus and his apparent grandfather as the elf vanished. Ignoring his stoic grandfather entirely, Perseus took Harry’s ballcap off his head to hand it to Arthur saying tiredly “use it as a portkey, I’ll message Nova and get the Knight bus to her place.”

Arthur told him firmly that he wasn’t leaving a teenager to make his way back home alone tonight so Perseus could spend the night at the Burrow. Harry noticed during this that Merula had slunk off from the crowd and Charlie had gone to follow her with a slight frown on his face after glancing at Bill who nodded. Crouch just said gruffly for Perseus to go with the Weasleys to the Burrow, he’d send a message to Nova and Grace while he continued to search for the true perpetrator.


	6. The Aftermath of the Quiditch World Cup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath, reunions and first meetings  
> Perseus spends some time at the Burrow and Harry alongside the Weasleys get to meet Nova.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Harry Potter or anything within the universe unfortunately.

**Perseus**

Mrs Weasley greeted them all with tight hugs, on being introduced to Perseus she smiled warmly as Percy hastily explained what had happened. Soon they were all tucked into various beds, the twins dragging Perseus to stay in their room as Arthur used a patronus to message Grace to tell her where her son was, uncertain if Crouch had done so. Soon after that Arthur had apparated back to the World Cup with Percy to help there and rejoin Bill and Charlie who had remained behind to help the Ministry.

Waking up early in the morning, seeing images of his father being one of the men in masks who had rioted and tortured the muggle family who had been on the ticket booth, Perseus snuck downstairs. He tried to be quiet so not to wake anyone and was trying to find his clothes before an awake Molly handed them to him saying apologetically “I had to wash them quickly I’m afraid.” He took them with a quite thank you as he went to the bathroom to get changed and then offered to help her with breakfast to her surprise, but she accepted just as Harry came down, sleepy eyed but looking as if he wished to do anything but go back to sleep and he was promptly co-opted into helping as well. 

The food was spread across the table when Mrs Weasley shouted for everyone else to get up. Hermione came down first with Ginny then the twins and Ron. They were all digging into the food when someone knocked on the door. Mrs Weasley left her plate to answer it, she had a quiet discussion until she welcomed the stranger in. It was a young woman in a black velvet jacket with gold embroidery at the front in the shape of leaves with black skinny jeans and ankle boots, Perseus just introduced her with a single word infused with fondness “Nova.”

She smiled and Harry was startled at how pretty she was, dark hair falling in waves past her shoulders and sharp blue eyes with sharper cheekbones that softened as she wrapped a now standing Perseus into a relieved hug as he said something quietly to her. The twins were staring, actually everyone was. “Messers Weasley, Potter and Granger this is my godsister Nova Rose Black, her uncle is of Azcaban fame. She doesn’t bite much I promise and is mostly harmless.”

Bill chuckles commenting amused “no, I distinctly remember a pinch though.” Nova shrugged, completely at ease as she answered with a grin “honestly Bill, it was dark, it could have been Merula. As for you Perseus, your grandfather sent a note, mother also sent me the advanced copy of the Oracle of what happened last night.” She pulled a copy out of her bag, Hermione taking it to read aloud with a quite thank you as she muttered she was definitely changing her subscription. Nova explaining to the confused others “my mother runs the Oracle’s office in England.”

Soon enough Mrs Weasley was guiding Nova to a spare place at the table for her to join them for breakfast, regardless of Nova’s protests that she had already eaten. A sandwich apparently didn’t classify as a full meal so she nibbled a little, curled into Perseus side it was oddly apparent that he saw her as a sister as the twins shamelessly flirted to the amusement of the others. Nova blinked at them after inhaling a mug of coffee that Perseus handed her to answer amused “ask me out when I’m not tied up all summer clearing out a house with every infestation known to Magical Britain.”

They all stared, Perseus laughed saying “you’ve been enjoying yourself, the challenge of it all and besides, we both know your letters are occupying you perfectly. Honestly, how many books have you bought?”

Sighing, Nova answered sheepishly “probably too many, either way between all of us, the library will probably be filled with an equal amount of muggle poetry and philosophy to the dark curses and spells.” Pausing she added smugly “my grandmother’s portrait will love that.”

Harry stared for a second he couldn’t help but think that Sirius would adore his niece, Perseus laughed. When Mrs Weasley asked what she was doing, Nova smiled all charm as she answered “oh I’m clearing out my father’s childhood home, the Black family townhouse. It’s been unhabited for years and even then I’m pretty certain it’s not been well looked after for even longer, since my grandfather’s death most likely. I nearly got my fingers broken by a piano, it slammed the lid on me when I got a note wrong.” 

Ron snorted as Bill winced saying “I’m guessing your letter asking if I knew a curse breaker in Britain is due to what else you may find?”

Nova shrugged helplessly explaining “I’ve been stuffing all the cursed objects in the reception room’s display cabinet, from what I can see most of the curses are of the illegal and horrific kind.” Perseus said falsely cheerfully “think of all the opportunities for learning Nova!”

Nova huffed in response answering dryly to Harry’s unspoken but confused expression “my father’s family, the Blacks, were as that Prophet article said, infamous pureblood traditionalists and many were death eaters or supporters, a lot of my extended and close relatives are either dead or in Azcaban. Not much to be proud of though. I’m turning it into a proper home and a den of activists and liberal minded people with good taste in music.” Ginny choked as Molly just said highly amused “well, your going to ruffle a lot of feathers.”

After breakfast, Nova wanted to leave straight back to London but Perseus convinced her to stay a little longer before the two of them left with the promise of writing to the twins and Hermione who had been entranced with Nova’s wider array of knowledge. She was apparently a highly gifted writer and also highly educated with an awareness of the ministry's current political situation that had Percy asking her questions. When Arthur asked her if she was going to be continuing her family's tradition of financing politicians and donations, Nova responded coolly "you mean blatant bribery? Not of this government. Charity, when I find something perhaps but my priority is clearing out the house at the moment." 

Arthur nodded in understanding and Percy looked a little frazzled at the blatant bluntness she had just dismissed the current cabinet. Perseus shot Percy a sympathetic look before the two walked out into the garden, past the property's wards and Harry watched them vanish with a sharp crack. Molly stared as Percy muttered about illegal apparation as Arthur commented calmly "I have no doubt that Lucy taught them if they are able to do it. For a former auror she had an interesting relationship with the law.”

Molly snorted saying amused “oh her and the twins were a riot and a half, do you remember Fabian flirting with her constantly? He was half in love with Lucille McClaren.” They all stared, Molly Weasley did not speak about her deceased brothers often according to the younger Weasley’s surprised expressions, Arthur hesitated a second before answering his wife, “yes dear, I think it was partially as she flirted back just as much, they were friends though. Good ones.”


	7. A revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An uninvited guest pops into Grimmauld Place for tea joined by the House’s newest resident brings with him a shocking revelation that throws Nova and stuns both Perseus and Grace.

**Perseus**

A few hours after Perseus and Nova had come back to the empty house, Nova having already seen and bid farewell to her mother that morning when she had rushed to the Oracle’s offices to write a new article, Grace had sent word that she was bruised from being shoved in the chaos and had a broken ankle, it had been hastily healed but she was required to stay at her friend’s home for a bit until she rested it sufficiently. She’d assured Perseus in her short note that she’d be back in time for dinner that evening.

Perseus had spent half an hour creating a new bed in the ‘house elf rooms’ for Winky, partially hopeful that she would take him up on the offer, it wasn’t as if Nova was going to turn down the extra help. The mere thought of going into the Greenhouse was enough to make her shudder, she adored making potions but herbology had never been something she was excellent at. Grace was better.

On hearing an unexpected knock Perseus left Nova in the kitchen where they had been quietly talking about what he had seen happen at the Quiditich World Cup, to open the door and freeze on seeing a figure he’d only even seen in photos.

“Headmaster Dumbledore, we didn’t expect you.” Perseus voice was calm, pitched so Nova could hear it in the hallway which carried sound very well into the kitchen, a fact that Nova suspected had more to do with her ancestors being paranoid than architecture. A frazzled Winky was currently with Dumbledore and soon both were ushered into the kitchen. Winky was introduced to Kreature and promised a bed and home by a very gentle Nova who ignored Dumbledore for a few seconds to assure the distraught house elf that she was very welcome to help clean the house but for now, she thought Winky could do with a comfortable bed and some sleep after her exhausting night. Kreature escorted the elf to the room that Perseus had created, an almost miniature mezzanine level in the once pantry in the basement with a bed and room for her to find belongings. There was also a freshly laundered and made pillow case uniform with two tiny squares handkerchiefs that Nova had made this morning. Winky had burst into tears on seeing it and Kreature had watched Perseus slip away without a word after assuring her that she was welcome to stay as long as she wished.

Dumbledore didn’t interrupt but with Nova distracted, Perseus introduced both of them properly and explained that Grace and Lucille were both currently out of the house. He also saw how the headmaster looked a little surprised and rather pleased with Nova’s priorities concerning Winky as Perseus directed him to a seat at the overly large table and Nova poured the headmaster Koshary tea on explaining what it was while Perseus silently added another plate to let the man try a slice of the delightful Basbousa cake, a recipe that they had grown up with after their visit to Egypt cemented it as a favourite. Dumbledore’s face lit up as he tried both, proclaiming he would definitely require their recipes as they moved the topic to why he was actually present.

At first the topic lingered on Dumbledore thanking Perseus for informing him what had happened. Grace and Lucille had been members of the Order of the Phoenix and despite never physically meeting Dumbledore before, Perseus had heard enough stories about him to know how much he would have appreciated being swiftly informed of what had occurred. He then went on to ask Nova which of the Black brothers was actually her father, not trusting the Prophet for validity which Perseus couldn’t truly fault the man for and on getting informed, he sighed then lowering his tea, serious eyes met hers as he informed them that there was something she needed to know.

The revelation of Sirius innocence, a man that Nova had prolifically cursed in private after his escape while they had continued travelling together, was shattering for Nova. The shared name, the reputation that Sirirus apparent and assumed actions had helped cement in Wizarding England had always led to British and many European wizards giving Nova second very cautious looks when they realised who she was. Lucille had taken Nova out of England when she was 3 years old for a good reason, mostly in that she wanted Nova to be raised without any form of expectations upon her. She had grown up being told that the majority of her paternal family were dead or imprisoned, both states they had thoroughly deserved according to her bluntly speaking mother. Lucille McClaren was not by any stretch of the imagination soft speaking or prone to tact, a Gryffindor to her core and an auror to her bones, even now as a journalist she unearthed corruption and was well known for her blunt honesty. She left the tact and diplomacy to Grace who was, frankly, much more suited to it by character and skill which would explain how she had been able to be the Order’s best spy in conservative pureblood society that she had been born and married into. Nova had always appreciated the blunt truth of her mother’s manner since it meant that she was never treated as a child, if Lucille didn’t want to tell Nova something, she was given a firm and rational reason which Nova usually accepted. That honestydidn’t mean it hadn’t hurt to know that many would think of her so badly because of what members of her family had done or that the legacy she inherited was more poisonous than even Perseus who just had to contend with his father’s actions and his grandfather’s glaring icy cold absence.

Dumbledore let Nova hastily piece together her shattered composure without a single comment as he went on to explain why Sirius had chosen then to escape Azcaban, revenge partially on the man who had betrayed Lilly and James, his oldest and closest friend and the woman he had loved enough to die protecting, but also he had been motivated by the protection of his godson, the boy that had things been different, would have possibly grown up beside Nova and Perseus if Lucille had informed Sirius that Nova was his niece and welcomed him into their lives.

Nova cannot help but wonder then, as her mind whirls, what her childhood would have been like with Sirius in it. Grace had always described him as the life of a party, quick to laugh or rage and highly mischievous, a temperament that Lucille had occasionally commented that Nova had partially inherited from him. At the end of the explanation Perseus is gently grasping Nova’s wrist as he says calmly to Dumbledore “your going to need to explain this to Lucy, I don’t doubt that she’ll have several questions for you about it. Possibly pointed ones.” Dumbledore smiles, rather amused, as he answers “I look forward to it, Lucille was always a brilliant interrogator of teachers and her peers.”

As she recomposed herself, Nova takes a sip of her Egyptian light tea and thinks of her brief meeting with Harry at the Burrow filled with red haired Weasleys. She had thought him to be a quiet rather nice looking boy with a kind smile and polite manners and a slight brooding nature, he’d be chasing off girls by the hoard when he was a bit older. He had only a few months ago, saved one of her few living close relatives from a fate worse than death. When she had been in the Burrow, no one had asked about Sirius at all after Perseus brief mention of him, she suspected that it was partially down to surprise at her sudden appearance when she had breezed through to drag Perseus back home after thanking Molly for breakfast and her warm hospitality. Not to mention they had just met and that would have been a terrible conversation starter.

Now fully informed of the events surrounding her uncle’s escape from Azcaban she wondered how she would thank Harry for trying to help a man who he had been repeatedly told was likely to attempt to kill him. Nova also contemplated how or if she should get in touch with her fugitive uncle since she expected he was informed she existed and their relation to each other by either Harry soon enough or that damned Prophet article that Skeeter had written. Dumbledore seemed to realise where her mind was going as he said amused “Harry would be quite content with a thank you but I believe but if your determined to gift a present, I believe something on defence against the dark arts would be best. He has quite the talent for it according to his last professor.” Nova’s lips twitched as she promised to send the Wizarding World’s equivalent of a child superstar a letter after she had spoken to her mother and Grace.

From there the conversation went into OWLs and NEWTs since the two were both doing mixed levels of exams on various topics. Nova’s love of experimenting with potions and the concoctions she created with their various uses and the obscure magic she adored. Perseus undisguised love and skill in working with runes meant that Dumbledore was soon sitting in the kitchen delighted as he played with the enchanted star globe and glancing at the changing ceiling. When he asked if he could have one for Hogwarts, Perseus stared a second and Nova grinned as she agreed for him. Perseus flushed but promised to make a second, commenting it wouldn’t take that much time, Dumbledore thanked him then said cheerfully “the astronomy students will be elated that they no longer have to stay up late for their class work.”

He also looked through Nova’s ‘experimentation book’ and stared for a second at the Sanskrit and Aramaic being commented on in English to dissect the spells and alter them but also the still being dissected wolfsbane recipe. “I know several who would be delighted to read your work, I’m gathering that your the young student I heard of from Jasper and Horacio, they were delighted on meeting you both.”

Remembering the details of how she met the two men, specifically it had been when she had learned to fly and tested properly for the first time by throwing herself off the roof of the temple. Horacio had laughed as Jasper had shaken his head then had helped perfect her Sanskrit.

By the time that Dumbledore left, he had the confirmation that the two would write to him and Perseus would send him the enchanted astrolabe. Of Nova he wanted to know the results of her investigations into wolfsbane, specifically how she could improve it. He also promised to accept the inevitable invite to tea that he would receive from Grace so she and Lucille could politely discuss the matter of Sirius with him.

Afterwards the two of them sit in the kitchen sipping tea just letting the morning revelations settle and a comfortable silence filled the room. For a second Perseus let Nova’s mind whirl as his own did before he asked “help me unpack?”

Nova nodded once and the two of them were soon going up to the second floor where Perseus enchanted trunk was in his dark blue painted bedroom. The curtains were striking white to contrast the walls and match the ceiling.

The two were soon manually unpacking Perseus belongings including various books, a set of tools, rune manuals and some of his various pieces that he had made. Nova grinned when he snatched the astrolabe from her hands to place it with great care on the side table and soon he activated it so it projected the stars across the ceiling as it had previously done in the kitchen as Dumbledore had examined it. Perseus smiled then turned it off with a tap on the case to return the floating orb to its holder. They also unpacked Grace’s room since Perseus had carried her remaining luggage in the magically expanded sidebag. Much of it had been sent ahead by courier before they had left France. The two rooms were promptly filled with their new residents clothes and belongings with a few things still left in luggage but not much.

On hearing the doorbell, Perseus left his room as his clothes continued packing themselves with a wave of his wand and rushed downstairs, amused to see that Nova’s creative handling of her grandmother’s portrait was still in place since Nova had been unable to swap around the portrait for something more palatable, like the one of Eva or Orion who were more palatable than Walburga. Eventually they would have to find a way other than stapling enchanted sound dampening fabric to the wall to ensure that Walburga’s portrait both was unable to wake up and so they couldn’t hear her vulgar screeches and insults when she did.

He opened the front door to find his mother standing on the front step, she stepped inside and soon wrapped him in a warm embrace then soon they were downstairs in the kitchen enjoying a cup of hot tea. Nova breezed through briefly to greet Grace before she left the room to turn her whole focus to the music room on the ground floor which Kreature had previously cleared out of the more dangerous enchanted objects bar the larger pieces of furniture. During her initial explorations, Nova had mentally earmarked the room for Grace primarily so she could use it for tea parties on first seeing the pale walls and the flower and bird wallpaper that hinted as its potential for being a beautiful room.

In the kitchen, the mother and son were soon discussing the World Cup but also Perseus waited till Nova was out of hearing range to tell Grace about Dumbledore’s visit and the revelations that it had brought. Grace had stayed still for a few long moments before placing her tea cup down then said softly “I never even questioned it truly, I thought Sirius had a trial but now you tell me he didn’t? Lily and James would be appalled and depending on how we frame it, so will pureblood society. I will be having words with your grandfather over this. Firm ones since he has apparently decided we are on speaking terms again. Poor Nova I cannot imagine how she’s going to feel when she stops distracting herself with work. Oh dear, Lucille is going to be furious.”

After a long discussion, Perseus went to help Nova who was trying to un-hex the gathered collection of musical instruments after he showed Grace to her room. The blonde smiled as she stated she would handle the remaining unpacking of her things which included her typewriter, various clothes and obscure objects and soil/sand that she had picked up from dig sites across the world. An old habit of hers meant that between the books in her shelves there were odd objects and several various sized jars acting as brackets with varying colours of sand inside. It was easily done and soon enough she was sitting at her desk, her typewriter put to the side of the antique wooden surface as she held her pen in her hand and started writing a letter to Narissca. Of all people who had a stake in Sirius getting a trial, it was her and it was best to feel out the mood of the Malfoys, besides Grace had little doubt that Narissca would wish to meet Nova after they had encountered each other at the World Cup.

A few hours had passed and Grace came downstairs from the second floor to find the two teenagers holding a hovering violin at wandpoint as Nova held onto the bow to stop it screeching and Perseus was removing they hexes on it. She walked in just as Perseus evidently got the last hex and Nova caught the violin before it hit the ground. Sighing as she placed it back in its now cleaned case, the house elves having pulled down the rotting curtains and the carpets to reveal wooden floors and dirt stained windows. Glancing at each other, the two turned their focus to the bucket of warm blue water that Grace suspected had one of Nova’s experimental cleaning solutions in it as she enchanted the sponges with a flick of a wand so each of the four began to clean half of the room’s two windows. Nova watching over them as she focused on cleaning the fireplace while Perseus focused on the wooden furniture, humming all the while as he and Winky stripped back some of the chairs to their frames or of the fabric covers and vanished the discarded materials. Winky replaced the once black and mouldy green with the blues and gold fabric that Nova had bought the month before to replace it. Grace eventually stepped inside and waving her wand, watched as the magic did as she wished, the windows drying and furniture moving to its desired place. Nova smiled and Grace fondly ruffled Perseus hair before kneeling down to greet a wide eyed but elated Winky properly and reunite with the House Elf that she had been fond of when she had been married to Barty and had been Perseus devoted nanny elf.

Nova soon slipped back into her bedroom as Perseus went to the second floor to clean out the bathroom that he would likely be sharing with his mother. Nova had done the one on the top floor where her bedroom was and on the third floor where her mother’s bedroom was. Kreature had apparently kept the basement toilet clean and had later done as ordered by cleaning most of the floors in the house even if Nova hadn’t gone through half the place yet. While this had happened, Nova had already binned all outdated products in the bathrooms and used some basic cleaning spells so it was not going to take too long but the green tiled bathroom needed more cleaning before Perseus would feel comfortable using it for anything other than an emergency.

Washing out the grime from the tiles by hand with some of his mother’s concocted soap, Perseus soon was vanishing the black water in the bucket and replacing it as he heard his mother who was in her bedroom call for Nova, mentioning something about the Green House. He paused to hear Nova’s blunt reply of ‘ _I have no idea what half those plants are_ ’ had Perseus chuckle as he cleaned the sink as he internally wondered how bad a condition the house had been in when Nova and Lucille had arrived if cleaning it out was his and Nova’s shared punishment for the debacle in China.


	8. A meeting of Cousins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova goes to Malfoy manor and meets Narissca, one of Grace's oldest friends and one of her few free relatives even as she compartmentalises the news of Sirius innocence and the role of Barty Crouch in his imprisonment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling, the only part of this I own is the idea behind it.   
> There is a pinterest board linked to this story if you're interested in seeing my inspiration.  
> https://www.pinterest.co.uk/gmpeterson9860/ideaharry-potterinheritors-of-atlas-burden/

**Nova**  
The continuous letters between Grace and Narissca meant that Nova was invited for a private lunch at Malfoy Manor for the two distant cousins to meet after the Hogwarts school year had started. Lucille wasn’t that pleased that Nova would be going but agreed with Grace that Nova had the right to meet her relatives and make decisions regarding on if she wished to maintain a relationship with them herself.  
Arriving in semi formal black sleeved dress and a long black necromantic coat with darker brocade that she had found among the usable clothes in the house, Nova kept her hood up to stop her hair getting blown by the wind as she walked down the gravel driveway admiring in part the enchantments on the wrought iron gates after she informed it of her purpose as an invited guest. She also saw a few white peacocks on the hedge that framed the driveway and the Manor House. The manor was old but appeared Georgian almost, the original Norman manor had partially burned down during the early 1900s after an accident Nova remembered, the house had to be rebuilt and by the looks of it the Malfoys of the time had used Georgian inspired architecture. When she walked up the stone steps, the front door swung open without a word and she found herself in an entrance hall where the walls were decorated with pale faced portraits who looked at her judgementally as she pulled down her hood.  
Narissca met her promptly and paused on seeing her for a long moment before smiling warmly and her coat was soon hung up on the coat pole before Nova was shown to a parlour room where an afternoon tea service had been laid out at a window seat on a small circular table. A more informal discussion then.  
The two witches spoke for a bit, Nova was highly curious about the relatives that her mother and godmother never spoke of and her father’s childhood which Narissca had been part of as she and her sisters had been regular visitors to their aunt and uncle. As the pair tucked into tea and some sandwiches, Narissca smiled softly as she reminisced about her cousins, commenting that Rengulas was always her favourite. Nova also was surprised when she was informed that the coat she had been wearing had previously belonged to Bellatrix who had adored it when she had been 16 and been apocalyptic when it had gone missing, assuming as everyone else had, that the protesting Sirius had taken it to annoy her. All Nova said on hearing that was “I found it in my father’s room.” Narissca had smiled, eyes glinting as she realised which of the Black brothers had been responsible for that jest. Rengulas always was the more subtle of the two and Sirius antics meant that any mischief could be blamed on him.  
When Nova asked about them a little more and mentioned Kreature’s own comparisons, Narissca paused before commenting her surprise that the old House Elf was still alive and agreed with the Elf’s comment. Nova had indeed inherited a striking resemblance to both Sirirus and Bellatrix. The eyes and wavy hair would cause comparison with Bellatrix but for Narissca it was in her cheekbones, something she shared with the elegant blonde in front of her.

The conversation moved from there, briefly side stepping what had happened at the Quiditch World Cup, Nova tacitly insulting Barty Crouch Senior which had Narissca tip her head in silent agreement. Narissca didn't like the man since he had tried to send her husband to Azcaban but it was in his treatment of Grace that her dislike was cemented. Narissca was a pureblood of one of the oldest most traditional families, she had a keen appreciation for herself but was devoted to her family and it was by a person's family that she judged them. Nova's invitation to lunch was partly so Narissca could get to know this cousin but also the goddaughter of her friend. The two women moving on to Nova’s interests, the love of potions and obscure magic had Narissca smile as they discussed Narissca’s charitable work, specifically the Malfoy’s regular donations to St Mungos. Nova asked her about various charities available and made a less tacit insult about Delores Umbridge’s policies being likely to backfire on innocents as Narissca hummed but didn’t comment on her opinion of the policies that her husband had been supporting for all she understood Nova’s arguments.   
She was however surprised when Nova mentioned she was going through the Wolfsbane potion to see if it could be improved with ingredients from outside of Europe or America, both places where the werewolf curse was more prolific. “I cannot believe that Delby didn’t think to look outside of Europe in his research, the potion is incredible but it can be improved.” Narissca shrugged elegantly in response but she was interested in Nova's ideas and approved so far of the elegance and manners that Nova utilised.   
This meeting was the first time that Nova had seen her own features and habits in another person bar her own mother. Grace had ensured that both Nova and Perseus would be comfortable in the highest and most exclusive pure blood circles, travelling across the world since they were toddlers had meant they could navigate different societies and customs with ease. It was the same education that Narissca had received. Genteel poise, Grace had told Nova as she taught her and Perseus posture and etiquette, Narissca was the personification of a traditional pure blood lady as Nova could be if she wished but most of the time, she didn't see it as anything but a mask or role to play if necessary. A role that was currently being used as she sipped on the tea in the manor as the topic strayed to the role of witches and the Prophet article that had so publicly revealed her to the British wizarding world after Nova made a rather dry comment of her previous visits and the fact she had numerous connections in the country.   
“As women we often have to exercise subtlety when it comes to getting our way. Few wizards would dare state that witches are lesser than wizards but sometimes I found that they have assumed it, especially muggleborns who have come from a society where women have only just started making strides to equality. As women of high society and birth our conduct is highly scrutinised, we have expectations and responsibilities which other witches don't. Even if your childhood abroad has shielded you from it, your return to Britain means that you will be scrutinised by the press and public. This means that witches must be vigilant of the potential consequences of our actions, and understand that the only true triumph is one which has the power to endure longer than the initial rush of success.”  
Nova placed down her tea cup wondering absently if Narissca would give her the blend she had used, it was rather wonderful and she knew that Grace would be pleased at the addition of a European tea blend in the House. Lucille and Nova had both developed a preference of Asian blends since their travels through China and Japan alongside the Indian teas. All she said on Narissca’s own argument was “I’m well aware that it’s better to succeed in the long term over short term gains that are promptly lost or forgotten.”  
Narissca nodded once as she cut a slice of cake for Nova as she said firmly, "precisely. Despite some having assumptions on the role of high society women, I am well aware that Grace and Lucille have raised you and Perseus to be the sort of individuals who never expect a woman to be a doormat. Nor will whomever you chose to stand at your side, unless you do chose to enter a political marriage. Even then, something tells me your clever enough to ensure your somewhat happy.”  
Nova’s lips twitched as she commented carefully blankly “my mother could give you some rather choice words about the things I have gotten up to when I have decided to entertain myself.”

**Narissca**  
Narissca raised a single eyebrow but seeing the all too familiar mischief in her cousin’s eyes, decided that she would instead ask Grace about what the teenager had gotten herself into. Nova’s expression reminded her all too much of Sirius but also Rengulas during one of his rare mischievous moments. Growing up in their family but also in close proximity to Sirius and Walburga meant that Rengulas had developed an understated, dark and sometimes impish sense of humour, something that he had shared with Narissca who had always appreciated her youngest cousin’s company. His daughter looked to have inherited all her father’s sharp mind but Grace Maguire’s impeccable manners with Sirius’ daring nature. An odd combination but as they finished and Narissca escorted Nova to the door, then watched her walk down the driveway, she couldn’t help but think that Nova suited the tangle of people she reminded Narissca of. There was none of Bella’s instability, none of her madness that had terrified Rengulas when he was a boy and had Sirius hiding him whenever she visited, none of Andromeda’s quiet cool dispassion that lifted only around a select handful and none of Sirius viciousness. There was Grace’s elegance, Sirius’ and Rengulas’ sharp minds, Lucille’s ability to get to the heart of a problem and Narissca’s ability to politely side step it.

**Grace**  
When the front door opened, Grace exited the music room to see Nova had returned and she placed her jacket on the stair rail then greeted her tiredly but with a smile. She was a little more relieved that the first meeting with Narissca had gone well, their different views on Wizarding society aside, Grace had regretted in part distancing herself from Narissca who in Hogwarts had been her friend and afterwards had been the maid of honour at her wedding.   
Nova was soon in the still unfurnished formal dining room where the parcel that Margret’s contact had sent back had been placed upon its arrival. The fully restored and preserved family tapestry rolled up with a letter that Nova had read prior to leaving to see Narissca at Malfoy manor. The artisan had sent details regarding future care and a few choice words of the previous family tradition for burning people off it. The whole thing was now unrolled across the floor as Nova focused on exploring the different branches, Grace walked in to find Nova looking at her father’s name then brushing her fingers against Sirius restored picture next to it before she said curious “do you think they would like me?”   
Remembering bright laughing Sirius and quiet subtle Rengulas, Grace answered swiftly and firmly “Sirius will adore you and Rengulas, would have been incredibly proud of the young woman that you have become. I know that Lucille and I are, your hair raising escapades aside.”  
Nova turned from the tapestry at that moment and smiled at Grace before asking “help me put this back where it should be?”  
Soon enough the two were carefully levitating and spelling the tapestry so it once more was placed on the wall where it had hung for years, completing the room so now all that remained was moving furniture back into place alongside, the now filled cabinets showed off the shining newly polished formal silverware and china dining sets with the various glasses and cups with drawers containing the table cloths and napkins. There was also a set of filled crystal decanters in the cabinet which Nova had a suspicion had been enchanted so she purposefully could not get in. The less formal dining sets were in the kitchen downstairs.  
After putting the tapestry on the wall, Nova got changed and went straight to bed, for her it had been a ridiculously long day and she had a brief break planned for tomorrow since she had to go to Diagon Alley to pick up additional supplies, write a few letters and meet a few people before she and Perseus would tackle the Library and part of the greenhouse alongside Grace while the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ was firmly locked until Lucille had a weekend off work for her to handle.


	9. A letter sent and a connection made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A letter to a boy at Hogwarts connects the two stories together while Nova and Perseus continue to clean out the house and start to host guests.

**Nova**

It took a week after the visit to Malfoy manor for Nova to ensure she had the semi-uninterrupted time to write the letter to Harry which soon had additions as everyone in the house decided to ask for her to send a message. As Grace settled back into the British wizarding society, she finished the revisions to her latest book on the lives of ancient Chinese wizards and started to network with old friends. With the revelation of Sirius innocence, she had sighed and started to get involved in the high society events that Perseus and Nova were both taught to be comfortable in but had never been part of before. Lucille threw herself into her investigations at the Oracle while Nova and Perseus continued cleaning out the house and its too many rooms. Grace had cleared out the wine cellar while the elves and two teenagers had focused on the bathrooms on each floor that hadn’t already been cleaned out. There next big project was the library.

Taking time away from her work as Editor and political reformer, Lucille had taken Grace’s advise to track down an old friend, the werewolf that Perseus had been told about at the World Cup. Remus Lupin, who had been promptly hired as a tutor for Nova and Perseus. Grace and Lucille both acknowledging that as they had growing demands on their time, the two teenagers would need some sort of formal guidance before their exams from an experienced teacher who had the time necessary that they needed. Remus had been polite, if shabbily dressed and mildly concerned that Grace was about to drag him shopping for new clothes, Grace was a lovely person but Nova had to admit that alongside her adoration of macrons, she had a slight tendency to judge people on their wardrobe choices. On being introduced and discussions being had between the adults, he looked a little amused when he realised how bizarre the situation he had been hired to manage was. Both were actually doing several mixed exams and the core OWL requirements, they had taken their OWLs in China the year before with special allowance by the Chinese ministry. An allowance they did not grant in England.

Nova was taking NEWT exams in Potions, Charms, Aricmathy, Defence against the Dark Arts, History of magic and a few language qualifications. Perseus was doing the same in; Runes, charms, Astronomy, Defence against the dark arts, History of Magic and transfiguration, he had taken his remaining language qualifications while staying in France over the summer. Nova had done most of hers during her year in China but now had to take her Sanskrit and Aramic qualifications.

At the moment Remus was trying to get a handle on where they were and helped them clear out the house, having the two house elves had sped up the process and Nova’s predictions. It had also been an adjustment. Nova and Perseus had grown up in a way wholly unlike their peers or even their parents. They had grown up as only children yet siblings as they travelled the world. Grace’s occupation as an archaeologist and historian alongside Lucille's investigative reporting meant they rarely stayed in one place for more than six months though some larger countries they remained within for a year or two.

It was during their world travels the two then children were exposed to more... interesting characters. The two’s separate expertise in certain fields of magic was due to having spent time in temporary apprenticeships with local wizards and witches who had something to teach. They hadn’t spent their whole childhoods together, they had been parted as Grace and Lucille’s work took them in different directions but they had always kept in touch just as they had when Nova was in England and Perseus in France.

Yet it was in travelling they had learned so much, a world tour since they had been children. Perseus had spent time in Russia when he was 13, the country’s magical communities were isolated and hidden under heavy wards in a wilderness of everlasting ice and eternally falling snow. During that time, his mother had searched for the legendary Winter Palace of the pre-unified Russia and Perseus had gained instruction from a former auror who had fought Grindelwauld's followers decades. He had seen and identified Perseus natural talent for combative magic and nurtured it. From Ivan, Perseus had learned elemental ice magic to a degree that few British wizards had learned, he learned to turn it into a weapon or a means to dazzle and distract a crowd. Nova knew that Lucille still kept the preserved ice swan he had sent her for her birthday that year. Perseus had also been taught by Ivan's wife, a celebrated ward master who taught the charming young teenager Runes when he pestered her with questions.

Lucille had travelled to the Asia continent when Grace was in Russia. Nova and her mother had spent a full year there exploring various countries, Lucille investigating mysteries and getting into trouble mostly as she researched something that had driven her for years. It was during this trip that Nova had realised her mother was indeed researching for a secret private project but she got no further details despite her requests and offers of help, Lucille insisted that Nova had to focus on her education. The pair travelled to India and Bangladesh down the Ganges on a sailboat owned by a family of magical traders who had also sold them more local clothes. They had walked through ancient cities and hiked up to one of the oldest magical temples of India which housed the greatest store of knowledge had been protected and added to over thousands of years.

It took Nova a while to her annoyance to figure out how to read Sanskrit even with the addition of translation spells. Her newly picked up language was invaluable to read the priceless scrolls the nuns and monks let her pull off shelves. The scholars and religious acolytes taught her of their religion as they nurtured her pursuit of knowledge and her inherent curiosity.

Garbed in the styles of the acolytes, her hair cut short, studying and living beside them, only Nova's pale sunburnt prone skin and blue eyes distinguished her from many others present. She had gone to prayers to learn their religion and in respect for the fact that she was staying at the temple as a guest, she also ate vegetarian meals and Lucille added various recipes from the Hindu chefs into their cookbook. To the surprise of her teachers, while her mother had gone away on a private matter, trusting the acolytes to ensure her daughter’s safety, Nova learned to fly as the senior monks and nuns did. She soared through the air and played with the phoenix in the sky that made the temple its home as the first devotees who had built the temple had done so thousands of years ago. By the time they left, Nova had a large beaded necklace that could be used as a bracelet, a gift to celebrate her successes at the Temple and to remind her of the lessons that she had learned.

Travelling may have made them different but they had been picking up their own weight in chores for years, living in one place - a home was an adjustment enough. Nova still was getting used to the lighter workload thanks to the presence of the two house elves.

**Harry**

Harry stared at the unfamiliar pair of tawny owls who hooted indignantly before he took the dark brown paper wrapped rectangular parcel and its attached letter carefully. He rarely got letters or gifts when he was Hogwarts, especially as most of his friends who would usually be the ones to write were currently at Hogwarts with him. One bird flew to the twins to deliver them their own letter. The elegant and clear script was unfamiliar as was the blue wax seal that had been used but the name at the bottom of the letter was not. Nova. Harry remembered then the beautiful girl with wavy hair, Sirius niece who he had already written to Harry about, he had been surprised to discover the girl he had known as a baby was now a teenager. Harry’s godfather had also mentioned Grace with some care, he had known and respected her highly but Lucille he had liked, Harry was very surprised to discover that his mother had apparently been Nova’s godmother. Sirius had been avidly curious about the girl he had known as a baby but was now a teenager, especially when Harry had written that he had briefly met her. 

_Dear Harry_

_We briefly met in the Burrow when I came to pick up Perseus, I’m sorry about the delay but things have been rather hectic here since the World Cup. My mother as you have likely been aware has been reporting on the Ministry’s response to what happened but myself and Perseus have been finishing cleaning the house and hosting dinners and lunches with various individuals. Including your former Professor Remus, my mother’s hired him to teach me and Perseus, he’s a wonderful teacher and I’m incredibly surprised he wasn’t asked to stay on at Hogwarts._

_I will soon, when the house is completely clean or at least suitable for company, be working to help Grace and various others push back against pro-pureblood and anti-creature/beast laws. They have been recently introduced with greater frequency by Fudge's despicable Undersecretary Delores Umbridge, I have learned whole new ways to insult someone when Remus gets going about the woman, Grace loathes her as well - I didn’t even think that was possible, she usually is polite about people and tries to see the best in them. Myself and Perseus have been unfortunately forbidden from teaching the woman a lesson in toleration._

_As I promised at the Burrow, my house is becoming a den of activists and liberal minded people who are determined to make the world better. My grandparents would be horrified with what I’m spending the inherited family gold on, my grandmother’s portrait certainly is. I am enjoying myself immensely. Perseus is accusing me of becoming diabolical, Remus declared that we’re all encouraging each other but it seems to be with benevolent purposes so he won’t intervene just yet._

_Despite my ramblings, the real purpose of this letter is to thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore came to visit and told us about my Uncle. I... sorry I get so angry when it gets brought up as does my mother, she’s a former Auror and is disgusted at the breach in the law. For Merlin’s sake, the Ministry gave Bellatrix Lestrange a trial and she was literally caught torturing a pair of Aurors. Grace went to visit her former father-in-law, from her thunderous expression when she came back, apparently, he was involved in the mess._

_Efforts to have my uncle acquitted aside, I have very few living and free relatives that frankly I am willing to associate with or are willing to speak to me. My joy at having one more to treasure is something I believe you’d understand._

_Padfoot is not staying with us at the moment, he’s travelling abroad and is currently getting healing to recover from the damage of imprisonment. Grace and the rest of us have been calling in favours abroad to try and get him a trial. We might as well embarrass the British ministry entirely since he’s probably going to given truth serum for a trial of that political magnitude. Its a good thing for once that Fudge's political choices have estranged other magical ministries._

_We are in touch even if it is sporadic, those first letters have been interesting and it’s very clear that he is immensely fond of you._

_I'm not sure if you know but your mother Lily was my godmother. My mother was part of the same group your parents were in, that fought against Voldemort’s followers during the last war. She still speaks of James and Lily with the highest tones of respect, there are photos - mother said she sent several of them to Hagrid a few years ago? Grace has told me to tell you that you should ask Professor Flitwick about stories on Lilly and McGonagall about James. Apparently, she supervised a lot of his detentions with Sirius for various pranks._

_Regardless of that, I’m curious about Hogwarts, I’ve read the books but your opinion sounds interesting, there must be a few stories, Bill and a few others have told me some of their time there. Charlie’s year, in particular, seemed to have been rather consumed by a mess with the Cursed Vaults. During lunch, Dumbledore described you as ‘having a knack for adventure and trouble’. I’m curious about the stories behind that statement considering I’ve been described as similar on occasion. (Ask about mine and Perseus meeting Newt Scamander in China)_

_The parcel is for you, there are three books inside. One is on different magical careers (that was Grace), another on magical defence spells (Remus) but the third is from me, my mother and Grace wrote a history of the last war together, I’ve sent you an advanced copy with a photo of the group I mentioned tucked inside. Remus asks I inform you that it is highly accurate and you may require tissues._

_I look forward to hearing from you soon,_

_Sincerely,_

_Nova Rose Black_

_PS Remus has joined in on Grace’s efforts to collect some old stories to give you and they hope you enjoy the books. They may help with your career choices. He also asked me to ask you to speak to Neville Longbottom? Apparently if I am going to get help with my herbology to clear out this greenhouse, I am in need of some advise and Remus recommended him. Just ah.. don’t mention Perseus, there’s a bad history between their families there._

_PPS Perseus sends his regards and hopes your enjoying yourself, he also advises you avoid the Twins, we’ve just sent them some ideas of ours to try out. They’ve been delightful correspondents and I think they may become rather good friends._

_PPS This is getting ridiculous, My mother, Grace and Remus all send their regards and I have been asked to inform you that we’ll be visiting Hogwarts to speak to a few teachers, Grace wants to set up an exchange in plants with Professor Sprout. So we’ll be there sometime soon when its arranged. Bill (he’s going to be visiting soon to help clear out the house) asks you to say hello to his siblings and that he’ll try to tag along with my mother ‘to watch the fireworks,’ honestly._

Harry grinned as he put the letter down and then opened the parcel to reveal the three books as promised, Hermione immediately grabbed the one on magical careers as Harry’s eyes traced the title of the second book ‘the British blood war’ while his focus was on the photo he found tucked into the first page. Specifically, his parents sitting among a group in an unfamiliar room, Fred looked over his shoulder saying curious “our uncles are there, next to Grace but I don’t know who the others are.” Turning the photo over, Harry saw in neat script were a dozen unfamiliar names including Frank and Alice Longbottom, Neville’s parents, but it was the last line that caught his interest. The Order of the Phoenix.

In the end Dumbledore came over to see what the fuss was about on the Gryffindor table, on seeing the photo now in Neville’s hands, he paused before saying wistfully “I remember that day, Lucy announced her pregnancy to the shock of everyone present, she swiftly turned the Prewett twins into penguins when they kept asking her who the father was. She immediately asked Lily to be godmother, Fabian and Gideon had a chess tournament over the position of godfather with Sirius, Gideon was quite smug when he won the honour.”

Harry grinned as many on the table burst into laughter, the Weasleys all lighting up on the mention of their rarely mentioned uncles, when Hermione asked what happened to the others in the photo, Dumbledore seemed to age a decade as he answered sadly “I’m afraid Ms Granger that they all to a person defied Voldemort, many of them paid the price for standing for their convictions with their lives, the Prewett brothers never saw Nova’s second birthday. They would have delighted in the young woman she became, most likely had they lived, Lucille would have been a more frequent visitor to England and likely Nova would have been at least acquainted with the Weasleys.”

He saw the book and his eyes softened as he said “ah so they did finish it. I must remember to order myself a copy if it’s gone to print.”

Harry answers sheepishly “Nova said it was an advanced copy, you can read it if you want headmaster, I think I’m going to be focusing on the book she sent me on defensive and offensive magic... um, she told me to ask you about the incident in China with Newt Scamander?” Dumbledore paused before saying highly amused “so that was her. As for the incident in question; a Lethiold was accidentally freed by archaeologists from some ancient wards, Newt Scamander ended up helping recapture it since he was in the area visiting a local wildlife sanctuary the Chinese Ministry established. I suspect now that young Nova and Perseus played a far larger role in aiding Newt than they should have which would explain why they were grounded for several months.” He accepted the offered copy with a thank you and promised to give it back when he was done. Seeing the headmaster walk off, head buried within a book, a few stared and Hermione turned to Harry asking incredulously “What?”

Harry answered indignantly “it was my letter. Oh, Ron. Bill says hi.”


	10. The Library and meeting portraits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clearing out the library and hosting guests, Nova waits for Harry's reply to her letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter, that belongs to JK Rowling.

**Nova**

Sending the letter off and waiting for Harry’s reply, Nova and Perseus hosted a small dinner party with Grace and several of her friends. They’d locked off the uncleared rooms and left a note on the curiosities cabinet that quite literally stated ‘this is dangerous, do not open.’ The dinner had gone off without a single issue even as Nova and Perseus discussed werewolf rights with others among other topics. Amelia Bones had come as well and been surprised to meet them, she’d also taken a look at the cabinet on hearing about it, scowled after a few quick spells and informed Nova that she’d be best suited to hiring a curse breaker. The most recent generations of Blacks had been mildly infamous for their curses.

The library on the ground floor was the room that Nova had actually been looking forward to going through. There was, of course, several bedrooms and a greenhouse in need of clearing but Nova had left the rooms in the hand of the House Elves and the greenhouse left alone. She’d focused on the books, Perseus hadn’t been that surprised. Kreature and Windy had already removed the moth-eaten curtains, washed the floors and cleaned and moisturised the leather chairs.

Growing up homeschooled by Lucille and Grace meant that both Nova and Perseus had grown up with an appreciation of the written word. Lucille may have been a Gryffindor and Grace a Slytherin but both enjoyed a good book occasionally. In the evenings when they were little, they would listen to the adults reading aloud various fictional and sometimes non-fictional stories. Muggle or magical. Unknown to all, Rengulas and Lucille had once sat down to read and compare the ancient fables of magical and muggles, Rengulas himself was an avid lover of reading and was usually tucked into the library of Grimmauld Place.

Nova had loved stories, books and research of all kinds since she had been taught to read and write, during long journeys that was how her mother had kept her entertained and engaged if they couldn’t pull out board games or toys. It’s part of the reason she is such an avid letter writer, she enjoys putting her thoughts to paper. Grace jests to Lucille that the children are Ravenclaws in the making when their little.

Perseus may be more inclined to the practical aspects of magic but he’s creative and loves creating things as well which requires the knowledge tucked away in books. Nova is subtle until she’s not. When they grow up and have wands in hand by the age of 12, Grace and Lucille both separately wonder on numerous occasions if the infamous Black zeal or 'crazy' can be infectious.

Growing up together as near twins means that Nova and Perseus occasionally join forces when they decide to 'act like utter Gryffindors' (Grace's words, very dryly stated proving her sorting as a Slytherin). Their more memorable stunts include; Nova throwing herself Assassin Creed style off a mountain temple (before telling her mother she had learned to fly) and in her memorable reasoning afterwards - it looked cool in the game. Besides, why walk when you can fly? Perseus had become an anamagi at 10 because Lucille could turn into a bird and he wanted to be able to fly, it took Grace four hours to turn him back from the jaguar cub he turned himself into, eventually frequent lessons meant that he learned to do it on command.

The worst stunt they jointly got up to was frankly entirely accidental on their part when someone released a very hungry ancient Lethiold from Chinese ruins which they ended up baiting to chase them through said ruins until it could be captured by Newt Scamander. That had nearly been an international incident that led to both Grace and Lucille exerting considerable influence with a slightly pressured Newt Scamander to keep the then 14 year olds names out of any official reports and the press.

Clearing out the library takes hours of work, they first had to pull all the books off the shelves for sorting and de-cursing. The library was a disorganised mess that made Nova’s inner bookwork shriek in horror because there were books on curses between potions texts and astronomy. Several were on the dark arts and more curses and potions, Perseus muttered she’d need a shelf for the Dark Arts. At least they had semi-pleasant company, there were two portraits in the room and unlike Walburga, they were polite, the astronomer and famous politician Caelum Black who had been one of Perseus idols as a child and his wife Eva who had been a beautiful French heiress, purebloods both but they’d been more tolerant than the generations of Blacks that followed the 1800s. Caelum had not been pleased with some of Nova’s own political ideas but he had enjoyed her talent for magic and the fact the two teenagers were actually bothering to clean the house out. Perseus had just pestered him for astronomy knowledge and cheerfully offered to hex Nova when she threatened to hide his compiled personal notes on the subject. Eva had clapped when she watched Nova gracefully float so she was able to reach the top shelves and placing the books in a basket levitated by Perseus, they placed all the books on the floor in large piles.

Landing on her feet delicately, Nova looked at the large piles then said bemused “this is going to take a while and we haven’t even got round to our own books - damn it!” Nova darted off to her room where she located the trunk that she had filled with the large book collection of the house’s current residents. The books currently in their rooms were their own favourites so could stay there for now. Before they were allowed to buy new books, they had to make a ledger of what was in the house. An amused Eva pointing out that there were books in the attic had Perseus rushing upstairs as well, calling Nova’s name as he did so and between them they levitated the two trunks full of books from the top two floors down to the library.

Knowing how many books were in their own trunk and mildly concerned about the number in the second, Nova looked at the shelves then the piles of books before saying slowly “we’re going to need a bigger room, somehow.” Caelum pointed out they could turn the potions lab in the attic into a small study by moving all the potions books up there. It would remove several of the books and the music room and parlour could also be used to store the music sheets that had been Belinda’s and were now inside the larger of the two trunks. Perseus pointing out that the books on dark magic needed to be stored where they could not be accessed easily or seen by the liberal minded guests had Nova just point up to the top shelves as Perseus shrugged sheepishly.

Sorting the books took far longer than they thought it would, they went by subject before Perseus asked how they were going to subdivide them and ensure there soon to be compiled catalogue book would make sense. After some discussions, they went with author surname and subtopics. Transfiguration having subtopics in human, anamagi etc. The catalogue ended up being a wood and leather bound book which Nova had bought for her personal use but shrugged as she admitted she always had one too many notebooks anyhow.

Nova carefully put the poetry and fictional books on the smaller of the many shelves in the room, supplementing the original collection by adding the ones that Nova and the others had collected. Perseus had shrugged as he saw her do that after they had put the large amount of potions books in the trunk to be moved upstairs. With the removal of the potions books and music sheets, they found that the shelves had more than enough room for the full collection.

Nova was mildly impressed at the sheer number of books on dark magic and curses that her family possessed, since they could prove useful she tucked them onto the top shelves. Bill would probably like to browse the books on curses anyhow when he visited to go through the worse objects in the cabinet. They put Hogwarts textbooks on a separate shelf nearest Eva’s portrait but also the books on magical economics at the portrait’s own request. Caelum had the ones on political theory near his, Nova promised to purchase more recent political theory books, the collection looked as if no one had updated it since Caelum’s death. Perhaps Narissca would have a few suggestions, Nova had to write back to her since she had visited Malfoy manor anyhow. The books that Nova had massively amended and annotated were put beside the Hogwarts books in a section of their own. Flicking through the copy of the first potions textbook she owned Nova smiled as she saw the highlighted text, different coloured comments written beside instructions with corrections. Alongside these were the additions of stapled pieces of paper containing other potions or alternate ingredients that could be used for a variety of effects. Better tasting potions for stomach ache for example. Perseus huffed as he looked at his less extensive comments to his own runic textbooks. Mostly as he had been taught with the personal notes of Lucille’s own mother who had been the magical theorist during her lifetime and skilled at runes herself.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're going to leave comments, please no flames otherwise I am just going to disable it.
> 
> Also my Pinterest board for this story is;  
> https://www.pinterest.co.uk/gmpeterson9860/ideaharry-potterinheritors-of-atlas-burden/


End file.
